Destiny in the Desert

The road to El Alamein - the Battle that Turned the Tide

Jonathan Dimbleby

• Publisher: Profile Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN:
  9781846684456
  9781846684449
• eBook ISBN:
  9781847654670
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia del mundo

It was the British victory at the Battle of El Alamein in November 1942 that inspired one of Winston Churchill's most famous aphorisms: 'This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end, but it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning'. And yet the significance of this episode remains unrecognised. In this thrilling historical account, Jonathan Dimbleby describes the political and strategic realities that lay behind the battle, charting the nail-biting months that led to the victory at El Alamein in November 1942. It is a story of high drama, played out both in the war capitals of London, Washington, Berlin, Rome and Moscow, and at the front in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morrocco and Algeria and in the command posts and foxholes in the desert.

Destiny in the Desert is about politicians and generals, diplomats, civil servants and soldiers. It is about forceful characters and the tensions and rivalries between them. Drawing on official records and the personal insights of those involved at every level, Dimbleby creates a vivid portrait of a struggle which for Churchill marked the turn of the tide - and which for the soldiers on the ground involved fighting and dying in a foreign land.

Now available in paperback in time, Destiny in the Desert, which was shortlisted for the Hessell-Tiltman prize 2012-13, is required reading for anyone with an interest in the Desert War.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Maps
• Preface: A Pivotal Struggle
• 1 Starting Points
• 2 Opening Salvos
• 3 Mussolini’s Mistake
• 4 A Change of Plan
• 5 Rommel to the Rescue
• 6 Dangerous Diversions
• 7 Trouble at Home and Away
• 8 A Fightback Fails
• 9 A New Broom in the Desert
• 10 Auchinleck Stands Firm
• 11 The Tables Are Turned
• 12 Roosevelt Joins the Fray
• 13 The Desert Fox Goes Hunting
• 14 Trouble at the Top
• 15 Deadlock
• 16 Stretched to Breaking Point
• 17 The Worst of Times
• 18 The Americans Come Good
• 19 The Auk’s Last Stand
• 20 Enter Montgomery
• 21 Montgomery Makes His Mark
• 22 Churchill Feels the Pressure
• 23 Into the Breach
• 24 ‘An unforgettable nightmare’
• 25 The End of the Beginning
• 26 The Beginning of the End
• Acknowledgements
• List of Illustrations
• Notes
• Sources
• Index